Kennedy, John F. (1916–1963)

Kennedy delivering his famous Moon
speech.

John F. Kennedy was an American President who served from 1961 to 1963. While on the presidential campaign trail
Kennedy attacked incumbent Eisenhower's
record in international relations, taking a Cold Warrior position on a supposed
"missile gap" (which turned out to be false) wherein the United States supposedly
lagged far behind the Soviet Union in ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile)
technology. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy announced to the nation the
goal of sending an American to the Moon before the end of the decade. In
his historic message, delivered before a joint session of the Congress,
he declared, "... I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving
the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning
him safely to the Earth." The human spaceflight imperative was a direct
outgrowth of it; Projects Mercury (in its latter stages), Gemini, and Apollo were designed to execute it.
Kennedy's goal was achieved when astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot upon the Moon at 10:56 p.m. EDT, July
20, 1969.